The concept of managing new product development projects as an
explicit portfolio originates from the context of large organizations.
However, the question as to whether explicit portfolio management is
relevant for small organizations is rarely discussed. We conducted
a qualitative multiple-case study of six small organizations
(with 15–40 people) that developed software and provided related
services. Five of the organizations did not practice explicit portfolio
management. They also seemed to suffer from problems that, in
the literature, are considered symptomatic of inadequate portfolio
management, such as having too many simultaneous projects,
overcommitment in terms of workload, and ineffective executive
decision making. In one of the studied organizations,
the management personnel had recognized the need for explicit
portfolio management and introduced portfolio management
practices such as regular reviews of the project portfolio,
appointing specific people for resolving cross-project conflicts,
and limiting the number of concurrent projects to which a person
can be assigned. The personnel we interviewed perceived clear
improvements with respect to various challenges since the
introduction of these practices. Our preliminary study suggests
that explicit portfolio management is relevant for small software
organizations, at least in cases in which the development personnel
possess multiple roles and responsibilities and are concurrently
performing many different types of activities.